This is a family friendly blog for those who love dolls and toys. The blog is a forum for all apsects of doll history, doll collecting, and doll making. It is the first step in creating a nonprofit doll center to educate the public about the historical role that dolls, the oldest human cultural artifact, play in the the lives of people all over the world. All excerpts are the author's intellectual property and may not be reproduced in any means withoutreceiving permission from the author.

My husband led me to a fantastic Victorian doll house yesterday. After we chatted with a great couple who built it, we came home with VanV...

Sand Baby Castaways

Courtesy, Glenda Rolle the Artist

PM Dolls

Leo Moss

German Dolls

Formerly, Aunt Len's.

Beecher Doll

Graces cover of Lenon Hoyte Auction, Aunt Len's

Foreign Dolls

Pryor Collection

Pryor Doll Collection

In Dec. 1959 Natl. Geographic

Great Book

Edward VI's Doll, 1540

Formerly, Helen Moe Doll Museum

Rare "frozen metal doll" Mannikin Pis

Courtesy, eBay Eilleen, Finder 27

Vintage Japanese Doll Joins our Museum Family

Courtesy, Southern Soldier Antiques

Rare Frozen Charlotte Type

A Pageant of Dolls

By Lesley Gordon, 1948

Hong Kong Lili

Barbie Stamp

An early Vintage Barbie

Bild Lili

Zinc Bodied Rohmer

Caused a suit between Mme. Rohmer and Mlle. Huret

Metal Dydee Baby

17th century Lead Dolls

England

Doll Shaped Mold

cf Dolls and Puppets by von Boehn

Metal Head

Probably Minerva

Black Metal Head

Russian Nesting Doll Charm

18 inch Metal Head

Mlle Bleuette

14th C Munich Clay Doll

Used as Bapitsmal Gifts

Halopeau artists rendering

Toy maker

Restored dolls

L to R: All vinyl mid-60s, Ragggedy Ann, handmade, new arms and clothes, Barbie Type as Elizabeth Short, The Black Dahlia. Black Felt Dress, white silk flowers and ribbons. She is in one piece, but with a swivel waist that does snap in two!

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Baby Alive, Bebe Gourmand, Bebe Teteur, Snack Time Kids, Drink and Wet Dolls, Betsy Wetsy---Even dolls have to eat! Remember the wonderful doll food described in Parrish's "Floating Island?" All those cups of air! Remember the elaborate Japanese dinners Nona created for Miss Happiness and Miss Flower?

Dolls and Gourmet go together, and as we know, there are dolls made of edible materials, too. Here are some great public domain illustrations to enjoy, as well.

In fact, the UFDC has put out a cookbook featuring recipes and doll photos.

The American Girls have recipes and cookbook directions, there is, of course, the Easy Bake Oven, and Barbie has had kitchen and barbecue outfits and accessories for decades. Didn't we love our toy stoves, and the cast iron versions are important collectibles!

So, it's been established. Doll Collectors have to eat. Therefore, this is a link to cooking tips from Jacques Pepin from my Green Blog:

The auction features virtually every known bébé model of Emile Jumeau, from the tiniest sizes to the very rare most grand size 20, as well as rare portrait poupées by Pierre-François Jumeau.
The Connor Collection began with a fascination for music boxes which then led to musical automaton which finally led, as things do, to an interest in the bisque heads that were featured on automata, and thus a grand collection of bébés and poupées by the revered firm of Jumeau. “Not since our auction ‘The Beautiful Jumeau’ have we had such a superb collection of stunning dolls from that most important 19th century Parisian firm”, says Florence Theriault. Automata are highlighted by the very rare “Piano Watteau”, grand “Bébé Triste with Toy Theatre and Pup” and “Organ Grinder with Dancing Doll”, all by Vichy, and important music boxes including the extremely rare Swiss/American New Century Disc Music box, the Swiss musical box for railroad station with dancing dolls, and the American coin-operated Regina Corona (considered one of the first juke boxes).

As if this would not be enough, there are also outstanding dolls from the collections of the late Shirley Bertrand of Wadsworth, Illinois and the late Carolyn Guise of Dayton, Ohio. During her early collecting years, Carolyn Guise lived in Rhode Island, so it was only natural that she would seek out the wonderful American dolls from that New England locale, including an early doll by Izannah Walker and an outstanding collection of cloth dolls from the studio of Martha Chase. The collection, too, features unique choices such as “Suzanne’s Doll” from Au Nain Bleu with complete labeled trousseau and fascinating provenance, rare Schoenhut dolls, all-bisque characters, collection of early Sonneberg and Simon and Halbig dolls, rare German art character dolls, Lenci, and more.

A full color art quality hard-bound catalog, certain to capture a prominent spot in your home, is available for $75 with after-sale price key and free shipping. To order the catalog or for more information call 800-638-0422 or visit www.theriaults.com or click on the button below.

Traveling & Information
All events are conducted at the elegant Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, located at 3600 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV 89109. For room reservations call the hotel at 888-987-6667. For auction information call Theriault’s at 800-638-0422 or online at theriaults.com. Coming to the auction is the most fun. Choose the dolls that “speak” to you, and have the fun of bidding and winning in person. Meet new friends. Convene with old friends. Laugh and enjoy, and don’t forget the hot fudge sundaes! And if you absolutely can't be there to bid, remember that you can bid absentee, bid live on the telephone, or bid live on the internet. For more information, please contact us at 800-638-0422, email us at info@theriaults.com or visit theriaults.com.

To receive notice of Theriault's auctions, go to theriaults.com and register to receive email notices. If you are planning on coming to the May 14-15 auctions in Las Vegas, Nevada or would like more information call Theriault's toll-free at 800-638-0422, internationally at 410-224-3655 or email info@theriaults.com.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

My name is Garrett Grant and I think I’m in love. This isn’t like me. I’ve always considered myself a pretty cool guy and I’ve had my share of girlfriends over the years—but this one is different. My usual stuff just doesn’t work with her.

Let me start at the beginning. A couple of weeks ago my best friend Trevor and I went to Logan City Comic Con. Although that’s not usually my thing, Trevor loves that sort of stuff. And in my business (I just started work at Cannon Tech, we make software for the gaming industry) it doesn’t hurt for me to keep up with comics. Anyway, it was a pretty long drive and I was getting a bit cranky, wondering why I let myself be talked into this trip in the first place. I’d been to Comic Con in San Diego and New York, so I really wasn’t expecting much in Logan City.

Courtesy, Tonner.com

We finally got there, got our tickets and walked in. Trevor loves comics and the art of comics, but old school. He thinks comics should be hand drawn, inked and colored—no digital work. He had heard that a couple of the artists who still worked like that would be there. So, as soon as we got there, he headed for Artist Alley and kind of left me to fend for myself.

A little background on Trevor and me: we met in high school, senior year. I was a jock (hate these labels but it was what it was) and Trevor was, well, I guess you’d call him a nerd (another term I hate.) We didn’t really run in the same group so I didn’t know him that well. That January, I took my car to school after my Dad said I couldn’t. I hit a patch of ice and rammed right into Trevor’s car. My car didn’t have a scratch but there was a big dent in Trevor’s side door. Although his car wasn’t in great condition and he could have made a big deal out of it, he didn’t. He was really cool about it. But if my Dad had found out, my car would have been history. Trevor and I started talking and it turned out, he was really funny. We started hanging out and I guess you could say we became best friends.

So, back to Logan Con. Anyway, off goes Trev and I’m kind of left standing around by myself. It was much more crowded than I thought it would be and half the crowd was dressed up in really wacked-out costumes, so the people watching was great. I got a drink and start doing the aisles. At the end of the second aisle I saw her, this quirky looking Alice in Wonderland. She had these big, beautiful eyes that looked even bigger because she was wearing Harry Potter styled glasses. She had the whole Alice get up on and, I don’t know, there was just something about her that took my breath away. Believe me, I’m not shy around girls - over the years I’ve pretty much dated who I wanted - but to say I was attracted to her was an understatement.

She was with another girl (I later found out it was her best friend, Patsy.) Anyway, I was smart enough not to just barge over there, but I did kind of stare. And at a certain point I caught her eye. She smiled—not in a flirty way—just nice—and I just about died. I’m telling you, I’ve never felt like this in my life. I smiled back but then I had to look away—I didn’t want to seem creepy. So I pretended to look around, all the time watching her out of the corner of my eye. I kept my distance, but when she headed down another aisle, I followed her. I know what you’re thinking: stalker. But it wasn’t like that. I just didn’t want to lose sight of her until I got the chance to talk to her.

So I followed her until she got to the Artist Aisle where all the artists were signing comics and talking to the collectors and fans. Then guess what happened - she stopped in front of a booth right beside Trevor! That was my chance. I kind of hurried over and nudged Trev. “Oh, hey,” he said. Then he turned from me and started talking to my Alice as if they knew each other! I about fell over.

“Garrett, I want you to meet a friend of mine,” he said. “This is Agatha Primrose.” He motioned to the artist sitting at the table, “Her Dad is the artist I was telling you about. And this is her friend, Patsy Hargrave.”And all I could say was, “Uh…”

Agatha and Patsy seemed to think that was kind of funny—they both smiled. I did pull it together though and after a couple of minutes, Agatha and I started talking a little bit. It turned out that her Dad is a pretty well- known comic artist. She’s been going to Comic Cons her whole life and loves them. Sometimes she helps out her dad but other times she goes just to have fun. She loves pop culture, music and movies. She’s an artist too and creates graphic novels for younger kids. She just started an internship with a tech company—so I know we have a lot in common.

That’s all I found out. They had to leave, they were meeting friends for lunch. Although it wasn't like me, I didn’t have the nerve to say much more or even ask for her contact info.

As soon as I got Trevor out of there I started pumping him for info. He just laughed, told me to calm down and told me a bit about her. I wanted to know more but the jerk would only say “All in good time, my friend, all in good time.”

I wanted to clobber him of course, but since I had no choice, I let it go. He knew her and he knew how to get in touch with her, therefore I knew I would see her another time.

The R. John Wright 2016 Convention is rapidly approaching...and this is our most fabulous lineup of special events we have ever had. There will be a an event with an extremely rare RJW sewn-face doll. An event with our own logo elf, Periwinkle. Another event will feature Winnie-the-Pooh and yet another will spotlight dear old Raggedy Ann! The Wizard of Oz event will feature an RJW Munchkin. The most exciting thing about all of these events is the souvenirs will be extremely limited to ONLY 100 pieces each! That is a small edition and trust us, these dolls are incredible. You will want them all!

To read the individual breakout event details, click here or the photo below!As an RJW INSIDER, you get to see never before released photos of preliminary clay sculpts of what is on the design table. In the last issue, we showed you Bonzo and since that issue, he has changed quite a bit, and you get to see exclusive photos of the sculpt progression.Click Here to Pre-Order Your Bonzo NowHowdy Partner!The RJW Cowboy Brownie is currently shipping and you are first to see production photos.Learn More About the Brownie CowboyNational Pet Day is on April 11thMeet Mickey!

"The first, named 'Guff', started out as my cat before I met Susan. He was a Russian Blue who we had for 18 years. Our 2nd cat was named 'Pepper' who is is in the photo on the left. This was the family cat that grew up with our children. He lived a charmed life for a whopping 23 years! He is 22 years old in the photograph with me. Our current cat is named 'Mickey' after our favorite mouse! He is a dead-ringer for our previous cat, Pepper. Like all our cats, Mickey is an outdoor cat - independent but very affectionate. IMO the perfect pet as he loves to snuggle. We bring him to the office from time to time and he hangs out in his 'man cave' in the design room. Or quite often he can be found sprawled out on the sofa in my office." - R. John WrightIf you have a photo of your pet, send it to our social media team and we would like to feature you on Facebook! Throwback to the R. John Wright Open House - R. John Wright and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi enjoy chatting, and a snapshot of the Tinman in progress. What's on the Blog: Ellen's Take: Dollmaking

Ellen Tsagaris is one of our favorite doll bloggers. She has collected dolls since she was three years old. She has made dolls, priced dolls, repaired, dressed, and studied dolls and her blogging work can be found on the doll collecting section of about.com and on her personal doll blogs, Doll Museum, and Dr. E's Doll Museum blog. Ellen is a fan and collector of R. John Wright dolls and we were fortunate to have her guest blog for us. We will be featuring a monthly series of subject of her choice in, "Ellen's Take". Here is her take on dollmaking and we hope you enjoy it! Click below to read it!We were in the news again and want to share it with you! WCAX has a series called, "Made in VT" and they came to visit us a couple weeks ago. Click below or catch it here!Click below to see our fully digital RJW CatalogThere is a new RJW Collector Group on Facebook that is run by collectors themselves and we wanted to tell you about it. They are so much fun and sharing snapshots of their collections. Join today and meet some new friends! Find the link to the group here or click below.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

I caught an episode of Miami Vice that involved dolls.A killer who was also an important government
informant murdered young girls, dressed them as dolls, then left a doll with
them.He had a split personality
disorder where the dolls spoke to him and he answered; he did all the
voices.Move over, Charlie
McCarthy!The dolls shown were porcelain
dolls from the 80s and 90s, artist reproductions, and vintage vinyl dolls.I think I caught a glimpse of Fisher Price’s My
Friend Mandy.Dolls, indeed, are where
you find them, as my friend Mary Hillier noted!

Monday, April 4, 2016

Theriault's Rendezvous, Nights at the Auction, are conducted at Theriault's headquarters office in Annapolis, Maryland. Plan in advance, get registered, and when the auction is set to begin - 7 PM EDT - click the audio/video on button.

Join Theriault's for a fun and fast and fact-filled one-hour auction of great antique dolls. Just have fun and maybe bring home a doll. The dolls are all available for viewing and bidding online. You can leave pre-bids, you can absentee bid, or you can make a reservation to bid by telephone at the actual time of the auction. Or you can be there online when the fun begins and watch the live audio/video feed. For technical help with bidding live online call Proxibid toll free at Theriault's Premier Line at 855-264-8262.